Bureau of Indian Affairs Records: Urban Relocation
During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the U.S. Government began encouraging Native Americans to leave rural reservations and move to metropolitan areas. This push was part of the government鈥檚 policy of termination, which aimed to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream culture and end federal supervision over Native tribes.
The 威尼斯人娱乐场 houses multiple series of records related to urban relocation in Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
Historical Overview
The first Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government鈥攎ore commonly known as the Hoover Commission after its chair, former President Herbert C. Hoover鈥攔ecommended in 1949 that the U.S. Government seek 鈥渃omplete integration鈥� of Native Americans into mainstream society by transferring administration of social programs for Native people to state and local governments, ending tax exemption for Indian lands, encouraging Native people to leave reservations for jobs elsewhere, and diminishing the activities of the BIA.[1]
In 1951, the BIA established the Branch of Placement and Relocation and set up field relocation offices in Denver, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles to help Native people from rural reservations find employment in major cities. Additional relocation centers were added in St. Louis, San Francisco, Dallas, Minneapolis, and other urban areas in later years.[2] In fiscal year 1953, the BIA reported placing over 2,600 individuals in permanent jobs through the efforts of its relocation centers; this number grew to over 3,400 by fiscal year 1955 and to over 6,900 by fiscal year 1957.[3]
However, the push for Native people to leave reservations and relocate to urban areas had profound effects on Native communities. Many Native people who relocated under the BIA鈥檚 program faced discrimination, unemployment or low-paying jobs, and loss of traditional cultural supports in urban areas. Moreover, as the BIA only paid for one-way trips to urban areas, Native people who faced these challenges often could not afford to return home.[4]
Public Law 959, better known as the Indian Relocation Act of 1956, authorized the Department of the Interior to undertake a vocational training program for Native Americans living on or near reservations, ostensibly to improve their prospects for employment.[5] But this did little to address the underlying problems with relocation and the hardships that Native people faced because of it. Consequently, Native activists protested and organized against relocation and termination. In 1968, for example, Ojibwe activists Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt, and George Mitchell cofounded the American Indian Movement (AIM) in Minneapolis to address the needs of urban Indians. AIM鈥檚 focus soon broadened to tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, reclamation of tribal land, and government corruption, among other issues.[6]
Records Overview
BIA records related to urban relocation are located at different 威尼斯人娱乐场 research facilities, depending on the BIA office that maintained the records. Examples are listed below.
Select the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifiers for the full archival records descriptions in the . For questions related to the records, please contact the custodial unit indicated.
For more information about BIA records, see Navigating Record Group 75. For additional records related to urban relocation, search the by record group number (鈥�75鈥�) and keyword (e.g., 鈥渆mployment assistance,鈥� 鈥渞elocation").
Branch of Employment Assistance (Headquarters)
Contact the Archives 1 Reference Branch in Washington, DC, for more information.
- 鈥淩ecords Relating to Employment Assistance Programs, 1949鈥�1973鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- 鈥淔inancial Program Records, 1953鈥�1959鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- 鈥淎udit Reports on Field Offices, 1957鈥�1959鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- 鈥淩eports and Related Records, 1960鈥�1971鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- 鈥淎nnual Reports, ca. 1964鈥揷a. 1969鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Branch of Relocation Services (Headquarters)
Contact the Archives 1 Reference Branch in Washington, DC, for more information.
- 鈥淧lacement and Statistical Reports, 1949鈥�1954鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- 鈥淥ffice Files, 1949鈥�1961鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- 鈥淔inancial Assistance Reports Relating to Relocatees, 1951鈥�1956鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- 鈥淩elocatee Cards, ca. 1958鈥�1959鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- 鈥淲eekly Reports of Relocations and Applications in Process, 1958鈥�1961鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Anadarko Area Office. Office of the Area Relocation Specialist
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Fort Worth for more information.
- 鈥淩eports on Relocated Indians, 1952鈥�1960鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Billings Area Office
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Denver for more information.
- 鈥淎dult Vocational Training and Relocation Case Files, 1955鈥�1964鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Chicago Field Employment Assistance Office
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Chicago for more information.
- 鈥淩eports on Employment Assistance, December 1951鈥揓une 1958鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Denver Field Employment Assistance Office
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Denver for more information.
- 鈥淎dministrative Files, 1954鈥�1971鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Gallup Area Office
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Denver for more information.
- 鈥淩ecords of Disbursements and Control Registers, 1958鈥�1964鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Gallup Area Office. Chinle Subagency
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Riverside for more information.
- 鈥淪ubject Files of the Assistant Placement Officer, 1949鈥�1962鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Juneau Area Office
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Seattle for more information.
- 鈥淎dministrative Files Relating to Employment Assistance, 1957鈥�1971鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Los Angeles Field Relocation Office
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Riverside for more information.
- 鈥淐entral Classified Files, 1952鈥�1971鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Minneapolis Area Office
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Kansas City for more information.
- 鈥淩ecords Relating to Relocation Services, 1957鈥�1962鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Muskogee Area Office
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Fort Worth for more information.
- 鈥淩ecords of the Area Relocation Specialist, 1959鈥�1961鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Portland Area Office. Relocation and Employment Assistance Branch
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Seattle for more information.
- 鈥淎dministrative Records of the Relocation and Employment Assistance Branch, 1958鈥�1966鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
San Francisco Field Employment Assistance Office
Contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at San Francisco for more information.
- 鈥淩eports and Correspondence, 1954鈥�1963鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Related Records
Additional information about the BIA鈥檚 relocation activities may be found in BIA Correspondence Files.
Notes
[1] See Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government (Hoover Commission), 鈥淩eport of Commission on Organization of Executive Branch on Social Security, Education, and Indian Affairs,鈥� House Document No. 129, 81st Cong., 1st Sess. (1949), quoted at p. 65. For more information about the Hoover Commission, see 鈥淩ecords of the Commissions on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government [Hoover Commissions],鈥� Guide to Federal Records, /research/guide-fed-records/groups/264.html (accessed October 11, 2023).
[2] Edward Hill, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Volume 2 (Record Group 75) (Washington, DC: 威尼斯人娱乐场 and Records Service, 1965, updated 2007), p. 94.
[3] See 鈥淏ureau of Indian Affairs,鈥� in Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1953 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1953), p. 39, available online through HathiTrust: (accessed October 11, 2023); 鈥淏ureau of Indian Affairs,鈥� in Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1955 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1955), p. 246, available online through HathiTrust: (accessed October 11, 2023); and 鈥淏ureau of Indian Affairs,鈥� in Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ended June 3, 1958 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1958), p. 220, available online through HathiTrust: (accessed October 11, 2023).
[4] 威尼斯人娱乐场 and Records Administration, 鈥淎merican Indian Urban Relocation,鈥� last updated March 3, 2023, /education/lessons/indian-relocation.html (accessed October 4, 2023).
[5] 鈥淎n Act relative to employment for certain adult Indians on or near Indian reservations鈥� (Public Law 959), 70 Stat. 986, (accessed October 4, 2023).
[6] Minnesota Historical Society, 鈥淎merican Indian Movement (AIM): Overview,鈥� last updated October 9, 2023, (accessed October 12, 2023).